Slight Crush
by falafel90
Summary: Lily and James have an interesting discussion in the Head's Common Room. One-shot.


A/N: Totally Lily and James this time, unlike my other two recent one-shots that have included a hefty amount of Snape—though Snape is mentioned here, as well. Anyhow, please, please, please review (like any author, I really truly love them) whether it's negative or positive. I would love to hear what you guys think!

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"We're friends, right James?" Lily asked, fiddling with her nails, refusing to look James in the eye. James looked up from his Transfiguration essay, only to see Lily curled up on the couch across from him, looking rather sad. The two were sitting in the Heads' Common Room, relaxing and, every so often, chatting mindlessly. But this question, as James saw it, anyway, was leading somewhere. It wasn't everyday that Lily called him James…even if they were mates now.

"I would say so, yes," James said, pushing up his glasses and resting his quill on his half-finished report. "Is there any particular reason—"

"Why do you hate Severus, James?" Lily looked up from her hands and stared at James fiercely, though without any sort of anger or resentment. James was rather shocked by the question, though it wasn't unreasonable or ridiculous; now that he thought it, actually, he was surprised it had never been raised before.

James sputtered. "Well, I—er—um—I…" It shouldn't have been a difficult question, but James wasn't exactly sure if he knew the answer himself.

"It couldn't really be merely because he exists, really, Potter?" Lily asked, with a slight smile. Though the memory was a rather difficult one for her to deal with, she had to grin simply because of her and James's past hatred. If she thought about it, it was really quite ironic that, within a period of a few years, her best friend had nearly become her enemy, and her enemy had nearly become her best friend. Life was weird.

James's spluttering ceased, as he responded, quite eloquently, "Of course not, Lily. I was stupid at fifteen—"

"And that's changed?" There was mirth in her voice, and James knew that Lily was only teasing.

"Probably not." James smiled as he watched Lily chuckle. "But…I just…I guess I hated Snape and slightly…_only slightly_ tortured him because…well…you guys were really _very_ close and I was…_jealous_, to say the least." James flushed a vibrant red, and Lily was unsure she'd ever seen him act as he had.

"Jealous?" Lily echoed. Of course she had known of his crush. _Everyone_ knew. Though James's attempts at wooing Lily had been rather obnoxious in their fifth year, his efforts begun to die down in their sixth year, and had become practically non-existent this past year…though it was only November. But as James's overt and ridiculous tries at winning over Lily had become less overt and less ridiculous, Lily had begun to think that his affections were slowly—_but surely_—diminishing.

"Well, er, yeah," said James, still looking rather like he had an enormous cherry for a head, "I mean, you _know_ I liked you, and I…er…knew _you _liked _him_ and I knew you were _best_ friends…and, I mean, who were you going to go out with? The guy who you've been best friends with your entire life, who you actually like? Or the guy who you hated from day one? Which is probably why I tried to get you with those stupid stunts and—"

"I never liked Severus," Lily interrupted. "As a friend, yes, of course, but I never _like_ liked him." Lily was now turning just as red as James. "I actually sort of fancied Remus for awhile…"

James was unsure what to address first: the fact that Lily was never in love with Snape—something he always assumed was a fact, at least at one point—or the fact that she once fancied one of his best friends, a fellow Marauder.

"Don't you dare tell him I told you that, though," Lily said sternly, pointing a finger at James. "He never found that out—well, _clearly_, as your facial expression shows that you never knew that, and surely he would have told you if he had discovered my feelings…" Her voice teetered out, and she looked at the various decorative ornaments around the room. Had that lion statue always been there?

"You never fancied Snape?" James croaked.

"Well, we were friends, of course, but he and I…I mean, I believe he fancied _me_…that's what Mary thinks, anyway…but," Lily said, looking hard at James, "_I_ never fancied _him_."

James was feeling rather elated. Well, until he remembered—

"You fancied _Remus_?" Lily blushed again, but quickly defended herself.

"Well, we have a lot in common, James," she said. "I like books, he practically _is_ a book…I was a prefect, he was a prefect…and, I mean, _I knew_, and he knew I knew…"

"Remus never told me you knew about…about his furry little problem," James admitted, looking as if he wanted to grab her and hug her for her clear acceptance of who Remus was. _What a girl_, he thought to himself.

"Yeah," Lily said. "I stopped fancying him when I realized he was pretty closed off to a relationship."

James nodded. He knew Remus was uncomfortable with who he was, and James always thought that it would prevent him from ever having a romantic relationship with anyone.

The room went silent, and after a few minutes of awkwardly avoiding each other's eyes, Lily picked up her Defense textbook, and James went back to his Transfiguration essay. He wrote a sentence, and began another, when he glanced up at Lily. To his surprise, she was staring right back at him.

With his mouth dry and his skin prickling with nervousness, he managed to somehow talk. "Lily," he whispered, "Lily, I don't know if I made this clear before, but…I _still_ like you…I just…backed off. Because I thought it was what you wanted." He licked his lips, and looked directly at her. "Actually, I'm more than just fond of you…_I love you_." They never broke eye contact.

"Well, as it just so happens," Lily flirted, "I happen to have a _slight_ crush on someone, at the moment." Lily got up from her seat opposite James, walked across the room, and sat down next to him. "We have a lot in common, my crush and I," she said, touching James' shoulder. He looked at her, and she smiled. "I'm Head Girl, he's Head Boy…I'm a Gryffindor, he's a Gryffindor…I like him, he likes himself, perhaps a little too much…I—"

James was so happy, so elated, so _in love_ with Lily, that he couldn't let her finish her list. He grabbed her and kissed her—first, with fierceness and need, and then, with softness and passion.

"I _love_ you, Lily. More than you'll ever know." James rubbed the back of his hand against her face as they broke for air.

"_Never_ did I _ever_ think I'd say this, James, but _I love you, too_."


End file.
